Dare County beach-access campaign goes online

Sun kissed children playing in the sand, anglers surf-casting together on a wild beach, and couples strolling on the edge of the sparkling ocean are some of the images found on a new Web site that promotes beach access in Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Created by Dare County, PreserveBeachAccess.org is part of the campaign to put a personal face on the controversial beach driving issue and counter negative perceptions about it.

"This is very much a grass-roots effort," said Gary Gross, the campaign's coordinator. "This is a springboard to take it to the future."

Gross, who started on Monday, said he worked closely with the county's beach-access committee in pulling together the Web site, which includes videos of interviews with people, photographs of people engaging in numerous forms of recreation at the seashore, a contact form, background on the off-road-vehicle issue, and links for more information.

An eight-year veteran of the county's EMS department, Gross will work full time on the campaign, which is seeking partnerships in the community. His salary is $57,644.

Dare County spokeswoman Dorothy Toolan said the Board of Commissioners last summer allocated $100,000 for a beach-access campaign. After considering several proposals, the board decided to address the issue in-house, and the Web site was the first component.

A contractor was paid $4,950 to build the Web site, she said, and a film student was paid $10 an hour to film the videos. The Dare County Tourism Board recently allocated a multiple-year grant of $80,000 annually to cover Gross' salary.

Last spring's court-sanctioned settlement between two environmental groups and the National Park Service resulted in large closures during bird nesting season of favorite recreational areas in the seashore, limiting pedestrian and off-road-vehicle use through most of the summer.

Dare and Hyde counties and a coalition of ORV-access groups joined the park service as defendants in the lawsuit, arguing that the beach closures hurt the economy and limited public enjoyment of the seashore.

Toolan said that, at the request of the beach-access committee, the site intentionally refers to the seashore by its "historical name," the "Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area."

"The committee feels that it was established as a recreational area," Toolan said. "That emphasizes the reason that it was established. It's not a preserve."

According to the park service's administrative record, the seashore was initially called "Cape Hatteras National Seashore" in an act to establish it in 1937; the name was amended in 1940 to "Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area" to allow duck hunting; by 1962, it had officially reverted to the original "Cape Hatteras National Seashore."

Cyndy Holda, the park service's Outer Banks Group spokeswoman, said that Cape Hatteras was the nation's first seashore, but the agency hasn't called it a recreational area in decades.

"We are very interested in getting the accurate information out," she said.

Although the county has not worked with the park service on the content of the Web site, Toolan said, it does include links to the agency's documents.

The site's text is critical of the environmental groups that had sued the park service, saying they're "misguided," their views are "distorted" and that their approach is not "based on science."

The Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society contended that the park's interim ORV management plan provided inadequate protection for shorebirds and sea turtles.

Attempts to reach the groups' representatives for comment were unsuccessful.

Toolan said the Web site is still evolving and will soon include more links and additional content. In just the first week, it had more than 1,200 visits, she said, and positive feedback.

But the county is not ready to have people submit their own content - video or otherwise.

"I want to make sure," she said, "that we can manage what we commit to."

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com